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In a letter he posted to his fans on BillOReilly.com, Bill kicked off his publicity campaign with
typical modesty: “This book could very well change the direction of the country. In fact, I can
almost guarantee it will.”
Oh, it just gets better, kids.
Some highlights from the preface, along with questions we’d like to see the media ask him
during his book tour:
O’REILLY: “The culture war has also made me perhaps the most controversial
broadcaster in the country. That hot-button label ‘controversial’ gives my enemies, they
think, the right to attack me and my enterprises ceaselessly, unfairly, even dementedly.”
SJIHBO: Isn’t this exactly what you do, Bill? Did you plagiarize that line from your show’s
description in TV Guide? (See Mediamatters.org item “O’Reilly: ‘I don’t do personal attacks
here,’” among others.)
O’REILLY: “I can tell you truthfully that I never envisioned myself crusading against
establishment forces like the New York Times and today’s vast armies of far-left and
far-right zealots. Coming out of Boston University with a master’s degree in broadcast
journalism in 1975, I wanted to be one of the Woodward and Bernstein guys.”
SJIHBO: So you decided to host Inside Edition so you could conduct gritty, no-holds-barred
investigations of who’s hot and who’s not?
O’REILLY: “In fact, not since the late Howard Cosell has an American broadcaster been so
roundly vilified in print as I have been over the past decade. ‘Gasbag,’ ‘blowhard,’
‘demagogue’—these are common adjectives used when newspaper writers refer to me. I’
m not whining, just stating a fact. Because I criticize what I consider to be dishonest and
unfair media, and extremist pundits on both the right and the left as well as corrupt and/or
ineffective politicians, there is no shortage of people trying to marginalize me, or worse,
destroy me.”
SJIHBO:
“Rabid dog”—O’Reilly on Fox News Watch panelist Neal Gabler
“Left-wing nut”—O’Reilly on Senator Hillary Clinton
“Clueless” and “a fool”—O’Reilly on former president Jimmy Carter
“That loon”—O’Reilly on Ralph Nader
“He’s a sissy”—O’Reilly on John Kerry
“He’s a moral coward”—O’Reilly on ACLU executive director Anthony Romero
“You were an idiot, okay? Now we say that with all due respect”—O’Reilly on actor George
Clooney
O’REILLY: “In this book I will try to put the war into perspective. I will try to avoid cheap
shots and vindictiveness.”
SJIHBO: See above.
O’REILLY: “This is definitely not a ‘hit’ book written in an attempt to destroy certain people.
I’ll leave that kind of nastiness to smear merchants like Al Franken and Michael Weiner
(aka Michael Savage)—people who try to ruin people in order to make money.”
SJIHBO: Bill, isn’t this the same Michael Savage whom you once called “a pal” and of whom
you said, “I like Savage. I think he’s very entertaining”? Isn’t it true that you turned on him only
after he questioned your ratings? You’re not going to tell us that people wind up on the wrong
side of the culture war only after they cross you personally, are you? If so, this will be a very
tedious book.
O’REILLY: “My goal is to expose and defeat people who have the power to do you great
harm. My weapons will be facts and superior analysis based on those facts.”
SJIHBO: Hey, Bill, did you eat your bowl of Grandi-O’s this morning?
O’REILLY: “One more thing in this initial briefing. We’re going to get this culture war over
with faster than anyone believes. You’ve heard of Sun Tzu’s The Art of War? This ancient
Chinese how-to book has been a bestseller in many different formats, especially to
people who want to compete more effectively in business.”
SJIHBO: Okay, we get it, Bill. The cultural rift in this country is analogous to a war. Brilliant
metaphor. How’d you think of it? But given that many people in this country agree with you
and many just as strongly disagree, how exactly are we going to “get this culture war over
with faster than anyone believes”? With one histrionic book written at a fourth-grade reading
level? Your book will probably be a bestseller because you have a highly rated cable show
and a nationally syndicated radio show to plug it on (which you will, ceaselessly), but do you
really think it will have a lasting cultural impact? Really? Be honest.
O’REILLY: “My paternal grandfather fought in World War I, then became a New York City
police officer. He was one tough SOB. I have his billy club in my desk drawer. It was well
used. Come to think of it, maybe I was named after that club.”
SJIHBO: Bill, do you have an editor?
O’REILLY: “‘There is no instance,’ wrote the military sage Tzu, ‘of a country having
benefited from prolonged warfare,’” O’Reilly Tzu agrees…
Seriously, Bill. Do you have an editor?
typical modesty: “This book could very well change the direction of the country. In fact, I can
almost guarantee it will.”
Oh, it just gets better, kids.
Some highlights from the preface, along with questions we’d like to see the media ask him
during his book tour:
O’REILLY: “The culture war has also made me perhaps the most controversial
broadcaster in the country. That hot-button label ‘controversial’ gives my enemies, they
think, the right to attack me and my enterprises ceaselessly, unfairly, even dementedly.”
SJIHBO: Isn’t this exactly what you do, Bill? Did you plagiarize that line from your show’s
description in TV Guide? (See Mediamatters.org item “O’Reilly: ‘I don’t do personal attacks
here,’” among others.)
O’REILLY: “I can tell you truthfully that I never envisioned myself crusading against
establishment forces like the New York Times and today’s vast armies of far-left and
far-right zealots. Coming out of Boston University with a master’s degree in broadcast
journalism in 1975, I wanted to be one of the Woodward and Bernstein guys.”
SJIHBO: So you decided to host Inside Edition so you could conduct gritty, no-holds-barred
investigations of who’s hot and who’s not?
O’REILLY: “In fact, not since the late Howard Cosell has an American broadcaster been so
roundly vilified in print as I have been over the past decade. ‘Gasbag,’ ‘blowhard,’
‘demagogue’—these are common adjectives used when newspaper writers refer to me. I’
m not whining, just stating a fact. Because I criticize what I consider to be dishonest and
unfair media, and extremist pundits on both the right and the left as well as corrupt and/or
ineffective politicians, there is no shortage of people trying to marginalize me, or worse,
destroy me.”
SJIHBO:
“Rabid dog”—O’Reilly on Fox News Watch panelist Neal Gabler
“Left-wing nut”—O’Reilly on Senator Hillary Clinton
“Clueless” and “a fool”—O’Reilly on former president Jimmy Carter
“That loon”—O’Reilly on Ralph Nader
“He’s a sissy”—O’Reilly on John Kerry
“He’s a moral coward”—O’Reilly on ACLU executive director Anthony Romero
“You were an idiot, okay? Now we say that with all due respect”—O’Reilly on actor George
Clooney
O’REILLY: “In this book I will try to put the war into perspective. I will try to avoid cheap
shots and vindictiveness.”
SJIHBO: See above.
O’REILLY: “This is definitely not a ‘hit’ book written in an attempt to destroy certain people.
I’ll leave that kind of nastiness to smear merchants like Al Franken and Michael Weiner
(aka Michael Savage)—people who try to ruin people in order to make money.”
SJIHBO: Bill, isn’t this the same Michael Savage whom you once called “a pal” and of whom
you said, “I like Savage. I think he’s very entertaining”? Isn’t it true that you turned on him only
after he questioned your ratings? You’re not going to tell us that people wind up on the wrong
side of the culture war only after they cross you personally, are you? If so, this will be a very
tedious book.
O’REILLY: “My goal is to expose and defeat people who have the power to do you great
harm. My weapons will be facts and superior analysis based on those facts.”
SJIHBO: Hey, Bill, did you eat your bowl of Grandi-O’s this morning?
O’REILLY: “One more thing in this initial briefing. We’re going to get this culture war over
with faster than anyone believes. You’ve heard of Sun Tzu’s The Art of War? This ancient
Chinese how-to book has been a bestseller in many different formats, especially to
people who want to compete more effectively in business.”
SJIHBO: Okay, we get it, Bill. The cultural rift in this country is analogous to a war. Brilliant
metaphor. How’d you think of it? But given that many people in this country agree with you
and many just as strongly disagree, how exactly are we going to “get this culture war over
with faster than anyone believes”? With one histrionic book written at a fourth-grade reading
level? Your book will probably be a bestseller because you have a highly rated cable show
and a nationally syndicated radio show to plug it on (which you will, ceaselessly), but do you
really think it will have a lasting cultural impact? Really? Be honest.
O’REILLY: “My paternal grandfather fought in World War I, then became a New York City
police officer. He was one tough SOB. I have his billy club in my desk drawer. It was well
used. Come to think of it, maybe I was named after that club.”
SJIHBO: Bill, do you have an editor?
O’REILLY: “‘There is no instance,’ wrote the military sage Tzu, ‘of a country having
benefited from prolonged warfare,’” O’Reilly Tzu agrees…
Seriously, Bill. Do you have an editor?
Bill O’Reilly has just released the preface to his new book Culture
Warrior to premium members of BillOReilly.com. Our spies
managed to find a copy and we’re delighted to report that he’s
moved the goalposts of crazy back at least another ten yards.
We can’t wait to get our hands on the full volume, but what we’ve
seen so far reaffirms everything we wrote in Sweet Jesus, I Hate
Bill O’Reilly: Bill is megalomaniacal, anti-intellectual, completely
out of touch with reality, and an atrocious writer to boot. We haven’t
seen a worse example of a vanity project since Our Socialism
Centered on the Masses Shall Not Perish by Kim Jong Il.
Warrior to premium members of BillOReilly.com. Our spies
managed to find a copy and we’re delighted to report that he’s
moved the goalposts of crazy back at least another ten yards.
We can’t wait to get our hands on the full volume, but what we’ve
seen so far reaffirms everything we wrote in Sweet Jesus, I Hate
Bill O’Reilly: Bill is megalomaniacal, anti-intellectual, completely
out of touch with reality, and an atrocious writer to boot. We haven’t
seen a worse example of a vanity project since Our Socialism
Centered on the Masses Shall Not Perish by Kim Jong Il.
September 2, 2006 - Culture Warrior Review - Part 1